Zoo’s Response To Non-Vaccinated Children Having a Picnic Is Great

Australia’s Acting Health Minister Jenny Mikakos has once again lost her cool over the anti-vaccination movement. An anti-vaccination mother has planned a party at the Melbourne zoo. Mikakos’ issue? The party is inviting parents of non-vaccinated children. The mother organized the event on Facebook and has since taken a plethora of criticism, including the Health Ministers, who called the event “completely irresponsible.” She stopped short of asking the zoo to decline the parents from entering the premises of the zoo, but one has to believe that’s only because she realizes the gravity of issuing completely transparent discriminatory verbiage.

According to the Herald Sun, the zoo has taken no issue with the event. In a statement, Melbourne Zoo director Kevin Tanner said: “The zoo is a public facility and open to everyone wishing to come to enjoy our wonderful wildlife.” Here is more from the Herald Sun.

Australian Medical Association Victorian president Tony Bartoni reassured parents that the event would not affect their vaccinated children.

“At the end of the day it is about the irresponsibility of the message that it’s fine not to vaccinate,” he said.

Anti-vaccine activist Brett Smith said any concern over the event was just hysteria.

“It is one thing to say the polio vaccine saved the world, it doesn’t mean a parent has to believe the hep B vaccine is appropriate for their one-day-old child,” he said.

The zoo, of course, realizes its place in avoiding anti-discriminatory rhetoric, but that doesn’t mean they had to release a statement declining any support for Australian officials who are hellbent on destroying the anti-vaccination community. In some ways, the Melbourne zoo’s statement lends support to the anti-vaccination community. It supports the idea that companies and institutions should not discriminate against any group of people (or children). The Melbourne zoo had a variety of choices when it came to issuing a statement, they easily could have said something that lent credence to the health minister’s angst, but they chose not to. They didn’t have to say “hey, we don’t want these children here,” they could have minced words and remained protected and unexposed from any legislation. Or they could have said nothing regarding the matter. But they chose to stick up for the children’s picnic. And that’s a good thing. They stated that they accept all types. That’s a great thing. Discrimination against children who aren’t vaccinated is rampant.